The FastDay Forum

With any luck in less than 12 hours I will be a cast free girl! Same day as you, Pete. I had to get it cut open today and wrapped in an ace bandage because it was getting a little bit tight. They are not sure what is going on but they didn't seem too concerned.

Well done MaryAnn, I see you have been doing really well on the weight front so your injury hasn't set you back at all in that respect. I hope all goes well for the cast removal and you will be back to normal in no time. If it is at all sore/weak/stiff, just keep up the exercises and soon all will be well.

Yay! it's gone! But my arm is useless. I wasn't quite prepared for just how useless. The doctor doesn't have me doing physical therapy. Maybe he's just hoping standard daily activities will be enough to get it back in shape.

p.s. Keep that piano warm a little longer, doodle. It might be a while before I try to play again.

Good luck for today, Pete!

Sorry to hear your arm is useless - I suppose normal use will be sufficient to start the muscles growing again. I must admit a bit of trepidation here about my cast coming off. It has never really hurt and the crack in the bone looked so small that I felt a big cast was overkill. My fingers are working OK but then they did at the time it broke. I just suspect the muscles have withered a bit, and this explains my loss of a couple of extra pounds in the last month. Fingers crossed it has healed OK, will know in about 7 hours...

Cast is off - and the specialist nurse who assessed my wrist is doing 5:2, probably the slimmest NHS employee I have met so far! Of course, I told her about this forum and my username so I hope to see her here soon.
Wrist is OK but painful at the extremities of movement, no heavy lifting for a month apparently...

Glad both your casts are off - great progress, and I hope your muscles strengthen asap - the piano is being played a lot so it's ready as soon as you are, MaryAnn x

I'm glad you are both cast free and I hope the wrists are growing stronger day by day.

What I was told, and was certainly true in my case, is that exercise is really important. You may be lucky enough to recover fully by doing normal activities, but why take the risk of losing any function or flexibility? I would pay for a session of physiotherapy if it is not provided (I did) because a trained professional can reassure you about how much to push yourself. Obviously you don't want to overdo it, but in my case I had to push through quite a lot of pain.

If you google "wrist strengthening exercises after fracture" you will find good info - you can trust the NHS advice leaflet.

I will have a look. Because my wrist is still immobilized by a brace perhaps it is premature for me.

Thanks Kentishlass, I will check that out. There is still some swelling but I reckon 90% of movement already, have been following the printed sheet of exercises and will carefully test out function on the climbing wall tomorrow, easy routes only. Was OK on the bike yesterday for an hour. This wrist was always my dodgy one with some pain so I have to make allowances for that...

It sounds like you're doing really well, Pete. Perhaps your break wasn't as extreme as mine, but I think I should've probably been doing more when I was in the cast. I'm supposed to be doing that half marathon in mid-October and I haven't been for a run since August 3!! Hopefully I will get out soon, but until recently, I wasn't able to lift my arm into the running position. I was a bit lazy putting the cast in the sling all the time.

Other than that the thing I'm worried I will have the most trouble with is my thumb. My fingers are fairly nimble but my thumb is a mess. I may never do octaves again

I had finally started running again but the doctor has made me stop. The pins are causing too much irritation. They don't come out for another 10 days. That will leave just over 2 weeks to train for the half marathon. I am not hopeful. I've signed up for a 10 k in November. Hopefully that will go better.

Sorry to hear that, it must be very frustrating. But not so long now till the pins come out and there will be other races to come.

How is the thumb movement now? Don't be resigned to not doing octaves - you should be looking at recovering full movement, though it may take time, and maybe working on it will also have to wait until the pins are out.
good luck, kl

Hi MaryAnn - have those pins come out as promised? How is your arm? Hoping all is well...